‘Moneybags’ Roseman Burns Through Philadelphia Eagles’ Cash

Hide the women, children and money: The Philadelphia Eagles and General Manager Howie Roseman are on a spending spree.

Let’s go through a very expensive week with the Monday Morning Touchdown.

1) Zach Ertz

I like Philadelphia Eagles tight end Zach Ertz. Always have. I think he’s a solid pass catching tight end. Dependable. Not a great blocker. Not necessarily a difference maker. But, yes, solid.

Well, turns out Howie Roseman really, really, really likes Zach Ertz. If money could talk (and it does) it would tell you that Roseman thinks Ertz is one of the best tight ends in the NFL after Howie signed Ertz to a brand new, five-year, $42 million contract. According to overthecap.com, this deal makes Ertz the fourth-highest paid tight end in football, behind only Seattle’s Jimmy Graham, Jacksonville’s Julius Thomas and New England’s Rob Gronkowski.

Gronk will make just $500,000 more per year than Ertz.

Ertz was seventh in yards receiving in 2015, which sounds really good until you consider he was 100 yards behind Washington’s Jordan Reed, who was fifth, and nowhere near Gronkowksi, who he can now go toe-to-toe with financially.

Again, I really like Ertz, but this deal, as demonstrated, is flawed.

2) Brent Celek

Signing Brent Celek to a three-year extension worth about $13 million is good business and great roster planning. The deal lowered Celek’s cap number while also rewarding a veteran player who does a lot of things that don’t show up on a stat sheet or help a guy get much Pro Bowl consideration.

This is a good signing for a lot of reasons.

3) Lane Johnson

Let’s be honest here and acknowledge that no one on the Philadelphia Eagles offensive line had a good season last year. The play of center Jason Kelce was the most alarming and garnered the most headlines, but for me the play of Lane Johnson wasn’t too far behind.

I haven’t yet seen that leap you want to see a player of Johnson’s pedigree make. That’s not to say he’s a bad player. He’s a good player.

But, again, Howie thinks he’s really, really good. Roseman signed him to a six-year, $63 million contract that makes Johnson the highest paid right tackle in the NFL. Heck, it would rank in the top five or so of left tackles (and above Jason Peters).

Is Johnson that good? We’d better hope so.

4) Fletcher Cox

Fletcher Cox has the unusual distinction of being a Philadelphia Eagles player who is actually one of, if not the best, player at his position. He’s a Pro Bowl, generational talent. And he, just like Johnson and Ertz, is entering the final year of his contract.

Cox wants to (and deserves to) get paid. He’s been playing out of position as a 3-4 defensive end, and as the Eagles shift to a 4-3 scheme (seems probable) Cox will undoubtedly want to be paid at that level, which puts his contract in the neighborhood of $13-$15 million annually.

Oh, and don’t forget Vinny Curry, who is in line for a substantial raise (he currently makes less than $900,000 a year).

5) So, what’s the problem?

Remember how the Philadelphia Eagles had to release DeSean Jackson and eventually trade LeSean McCoy. While the popular narrative was that these were not “Chip Kelly guys” the more likely truth was all decisions were financially driven.

After Roseman had dished out huge contracts to Jackson and Jeremy Maclin, the Eagles had too much invested at wide receiver and couldn’t afford to possibly keep both when it came time to resign them. The Eagles rolled the dice that they’d be able to keep Maclin. Kansas City overpaid and took him away.

With McCoy‘s contract in the mix, too, the Eagles had way too much money invested in its offense versus its defense. The results on the field proved this.

Well, where are we today? Overthecap.com hasn’t yet added Lane Johnson’s new deal, but as it stands now the Eagles are spending roughly $11 million on offense than defense. With Johnson’s deal, that edge will jump to at least $16 million.

6) Oh yeah, quarterback

And we haven’t address the biggest elephant in the room, which is what the Eagles are doing at quarterback. If the Eagles are going to attempt to keep Bradford (who currently makes $13 million a year) they’re going to need to give him a raise in the neighborhood of $20 million annually (or an increase of at least $7 million).

7) And a ton of other stuff, too

The Eagles need help in the secondary, at outside linebacker, along the offensive line in at least one (if not two) spots and some might add wide receiver and defensive line to the list. And thanks to the salary cap, money is a limited resource.

Roseman is thought of as a cap genius but he’s gotten the Eagles in salary cap trouble before by signing too many guys to too many big-time deals.

Is this deja vu all over again for the Eagles?

Time will tell. I hope it all works out. But you simply cannot pay everyone on your team more than any player at each position in the NFL. It makes no sense financially, nor does it make sense in reality. If these guys were truly the best in the league, the Eagles would be getting ready to play the Denver Broncos in San Francisco.

They’re not, and the Eagles are not. Maybe it’s not such a great idea for the payroll to reflect a totally different interpretation of reality and instead reserve some funds to fix the fatal flaws and shortcomings in a roster that has missed the playoffs two years in a row.